Peggy Fikac: No taxable income? No problem. Or is it?

Published 5:30 am, Monday, September 27, 2010

AUSTIN — When millionaire oilman Clayton Williams said he hadn't paid federal income taxes one year, it helped make Ann Richards governor.

Democrat Bill White's disclosure that he didn't have taxable income in 1995 hasn't sparked the same explosion. Circumstances, timing and candidates differ, but the issue isn't helping his battle against Gov. Rick Perry.

The GOP incumbent has made a crusade of demanding that White release his income tax returns for the years he served as deputy energy secretary and as state Democratic Party chairman, refusing to debate White because he hasn't done so.

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"Absent those tax returns, Perry can say pretty much anything he wants in political terms, and he's taking the opportunity to do that," said SMU political scientist Cal Jillson. "I think on the facts, Bill wins. On the politics, perhaps Perry wins, because he plants those seeds of doubt."

A recap: White left as deputy energy secretary in 1995 and started a venture capital business looking at oil and gas investments, according to his campaign. Spokeswoman Katy Bacon wouldn't release his tax return but said he paid $27,668 in federal income taxes, including withholding, estimated tax payments and an overpayment. Because of businesses losses, exemptions and deductions, he had no taxable income. He owed $3,482 in household employment taxes for his housekeeper. He got a refund of $24,186, she said.

That level of detail contrasts with the 1990 disclosure by Republican Williams, who'd refused to release his returns and answered a reporter's question the Friday before Election Day this way: "I'll tell you when I didn't pay any income tax was 1986, when our whole economy collapsed."

Williams - a wildcatter whose shoot-from-the-hip style was a far cry from White's boardroom persona - made the comment on the heels of other high-profile gaffes and couldn't recover.

"I always thought if that statement had not been made on that windy, sunny day in College Station by the side of a train, he would have pulled out that election," said Reggie Bashur, who worked for Williams. He recalled a main damage-control strategy was opening the bar early on the train carrying media. Democrat Richards seized on the comment as an example of Williams being out of step with working Texans and won the race.

Perry's working to make White's returns an issue. Spokesman Mark Miner said "you have working families throughout the state that work every day to pay their taxes ..... This is another example of why it is important for Bill White to release his tax returns. But it also shows why he probably isn't releasing his tax returns." He called White a "liberal millionaire."

White - who has released returns from his time as Houston's mayor - says his finances are better known than Perry's because Perry has a blind trust. "Of course Bill White paid taxes. It's no wonder a career politician like Rick Perry doesn't understand the economics of an entrepreneur," said Bacon. Asked why White wouldn't release his returns, Bacon said Perry, in demanding them, is "playing a political game" to avoid questions about the state's looming budget shortfall.

But this is politics. Jillson said White should have released the returns months ago. "Bill White chooses not to do that, and gives as his reason the principle of the matter," Jillson said. "But principle is some dead weight on your pockets when you're drowning."

Cutting vaccinations

Your tax dollars at work: The Texas Department of State Health Services has budgeted $86.6 million for immunizations this year, including $26.2 million in general revenue. The general revenue would be cut by $7.7 million in the next two-year budget period under an agency response to state leaders' call for potential cuts. That could mean 56,000 children wouldn't get vaccinations paid for through general revenue. They wouldn't necessarily go without vaccinations, but another funding source or provider would have to be found.

Every vote counts

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie got attention with an e-mail reminding Democrats of voter registration deadlines and noting that people can vote early by mail if they meet one of several criteria, including "confined in jail, but eligible to vote." Mike Hailey wrote in Capitol Inside that although the requirements were copied from Secretary of State Hope Andrade's website, the e-mail "might be setting the Democrats up for a public relations thrashing from GOP partisans who've often accused their rivals of being soft on crime." Lobbyist Luis Saenz, Perry's 2006 campaign manager, said, "I would think that if you want to remind people to register folks in jail that you might also want to make sure you remind them to register the men and women overseas fighting for their freedom." (They'd probably be included in another category Richie mentioned - those who'll be away from their county on Election Day.) Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirsten Gray said, "That information taken directly from the website of the Republican Texas secretary of state, who is a Rick Perry appointee."

The count goes on

It's week 16 of waiting for Perry to agree to a debate since White released his returns for the time he served as Houston mayor. Perry said he wouldn't debate unless White released additional tax returns by Sept. 15. White refused. But let's keep counting, at least for now.